Subsidiary Body For Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA)

Successfully stalls attempts of developed countries’ move to bring agriculture under mitigation efforts

India fiercely defended its farmers’ interests as the first week of Doha climate talks continued up to the wee hours of Sunday, December 2. Taking a firm stand that agriculture was a clear out-of-bounds sector with respect to emissions reduction, India stalled all attempts of the developed world to further discuss the issue in the ongoing CoP 18. The developing world’s long-standing position has been that any discussion on agriculture must be held in the realm of adaptation, not mitigation. The developed world wants to introduce the element of mitigation in agriculture.

Developing countries on Friday managed to bury a proposal of the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) on agriculture. The proposal said that studies need to be carried out to ascertain the role of agriculture in global warming. This proposal, placed before a scientific advisory body of the United Nations Frame Work Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the ongoing annual climate change talks in Doha, not only showed the deep divisions that run within the developing countries collectively known as the G77+China but was also seen as an aberration to the stand of the developing world that agriculture is only a subject for adaptation and not mitigation.